One of the leading domestic custom research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) player Jubilant Organosys Ltd and US-based pharma giant Eli Lilly on Friday announced a 50:50 joint venture, which will focus on pre-clinical molecules and their development through phase-II clinical testing. The partners plan to invest around $8 million in a span of next three years. The joint venture is expected to start operations in the last quarter of 2008 and will be based out of Bengaluru.
The two companies already have a five-year drug discovery partnership since 2006 where Jubilant provides pre-clinical work for Eli Lilly. ?Where the first deal ends, the second begins,? said Hari Bhartia, Jubilant?s co-chairman and managing director. Sridhar Mosur, CEO, Jubilant Biosys, said in the former partnership the two companies worked on a project-to-project basis while this venture would entail a continuous process, with a devoted team of scientists working on this exclusively. Initially the venture intends to hire around 35 scientists.
The joint venture will work on drugs in oncology, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular and diabetes segments and will provide pre-clinical work besides developing the molecules through to phase-II clinical testing, he added. After completion of phase-II testing, the successful assets will be returned to the sponsors or the IP owners for further development.
Bhartia added that pharma companies worldwide would require stronger pipeline and a diverse portfolio as many drugs are going off patent, so that they have higher probability of success. However considering the costs involved in the drug discovery process, the challenge is to manage the portfolio efficiently.